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Sunday, November 23, 2008

Angry White Men

There are certain men that feel that filling the airwaves with their hate and aggression is the proper way to illuminate the evils of this world. What is important to note is that what they consider evil, are not things like hunger, rape, pestilence and war...nooo the real evil is that white men, (who btw constitute the most privileged class in history) might possibly loose some of their unearned privilege. All of the brown peoples and women of this world need to accept the white man as our natural leader.

You are going to see the wholesale replacement of competent white men, and I'm targeting exactly the group that's gonna be thrown out of jobs in the government. And I'll say it, and I'll be the first to say it, and I may be not the only -- the last to say it. I am telling you that there's gonna be a wholesale firing of competent white men in the United States government up and down the line, in police departments, in fire departments. Everywhere in America, you're going to see an exchange that you've never seen in history, and it's not gonna be necessarily for the betterment of this country."

Right, because white men have done an outstanding job of leadership? We will just ignore the wars, police brutality, rapes, poverty, etc and etc....How can POC not recognize how good we have it? How can women not be content to be second class citizens, when we are afforded the ability to worship at the the phallic throne of whiteness? We do after all retain the right to spit or swallow, how many more options do we need in life?

White men have so much to fear in this life. Just look how visible they are. You can hardly regard a social institution where they are not highly visible. The police, government, education, religion, military, media, and medicine, damn they are everywhere. The fact that this visibility translates to power is of course circumstantial. They don't need affirmative action because they set up the power structure to benefit them, not because they are somehow better than anyone else. Listening to Michael Savage would lead one to believe the opposite is true. The good ole boys network is just some sort of social delusion that POC and women made up because we are to damn stupid to know our place.

Of course white men aren't angry. They are only telling us this for our own good. Only women and POC are angry. White men just happen to see logic when the rest of us fail.

QUINN: Oh, I know, I know, I know. I'm such a xenophobe and such a hater. I mean, who would suggest that, you know, La Raza, or MALDEF [the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund], or MEChA [Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán] were really Reconquista groups. I mean, we all know that that's just a myth that's been started by a bunch of right-wingers. And it's not really an invasion. It's not an attempt to populate the Southwest to the point where you eventually can outvote everybody else, and do pretty much whatever you want to do, including secede from the union if you wanted to, 'cause you still do have the constitutional authority to do that.

So it seems that when we are not using affirmative action to get ahead we are employing a nefarious strategy to breed our way to prominence. White men fucking and dropping sperm wherever they can, no problem; however a man of colour with a hard on is a reason to call out the troops. Hey, that could be one of those visa priceless commercials couldn't it? Why is it that the only sexuality that is problematic is that of POC? Oh I know...cause we might have babies and lord knows the only valuable babies are white ones. Just ask Bristol Palin how nice it is to be an unwed mother who doesn't get slut shamed.

It continually amazes me that despite the fact that white fear is completely unjustified, that it is regularly articulated as a justification to spread the hate rhetoric. These men are being paid a salary to spread this ridiculous bullshit. People are tuning in to listen to this crap and nodding their head in agreement. Lord, pity the poor disenfranchised white man.

20 comments:

Something about these angry white men just, really, makes me laugh my ass off. I think I'm just laughing at the sheer absurdity of "oh those poor white men!", like we (the rest of us I guess) are supposed to do something, like get back in the kitchen or the fields. It's a serious problem but when I encounter it or hear about it I can't help but laugh.

I'd like to use an example of a white guy in my English class, who is just so concerned that white folks are in trouble because Obama's been elected. I found this absurd and when I called him on it, I started with a point then I just...burst into laughter. I couldn't help it. He got mad that I would dare laugh at his concerns! I just hope I (and the bemused looks he got) made him feel reeeal silly, even though this isn't really the way to go about any serious debate, I know.

White men are no more or less virtuous than any other kind of man, or indeed woman. Angry white men like Savage are indeed stupid although no more so than many angry people of other persuasions.

The reason Savage is dead wrong in this case is that Obama has in fact shown himself willing to work with anyone - regardless of party, color or gender - if they're smart and they can get the job done. Whereas the Republican Party under Bush did the exact opposite, putting ideology above competence.

Ebony Intuition, I'm pretty sure that karma only goes after those who've done evil in their lives. Not their descendants.

Most white men today are busy enjoying their unearned privilege, but they mostly haven't done any evil or wrong to deserve karmic retribution. They're just ignorant about their privilege, and where it comes from.

They're also "scared as hell" because they think they're going to be disadvantaged now. They mostly don't see that it's only the loss of unearned privilege, and they certainly don't see that it's the result of the past evils of our society.

To James, I have learned a lot about privilege form this site and others linked to it, and I think that the consensus is that by enjoying your privilege and making no attempt to mitigate it, you ARE doing something wrong and are complicit in the crimes that established and maintain that privilege. And I really have a hard time believing that white men are truly ignorant to their position of power in society. Like most people (myself included when I first began learning about white and other privilege) who are confronted with the idea that they are privileged, white men balk at the idea that they have privilege and try to make excuses for why they are not the oppressors. This is denial, not ignorance.

Anonymous, I agree with you in one sense. It's surely wrong to benefit from unearned privilege, and it's wrong to take advantage of that privilege rather than trying to do something about it.

However, our challenge is that most white men seem to genuinely lack an awareness that they enjoy unearned privilege. At least, that seems to me to be what I see out there in my work, and what social science research indicates. Given that, I think it's hard to talk about "complicity in crimes," rather than ignorance.

What I think you may be failing to ask yourself is *why* white men initially balk when confronted with the idea that they're privileged.

For many of us, this is such an obvious concept that we forget that most people (and not just whites) are raised their whole lives in a society which sends powerful messages to obscure the nature of power and privilege. When first confronted with the *argument* that they enjoy unearned privilege, naturally they fall back on what they've learned. They think they have abundant evidence that they are not, in fact, privileged. This may be why you, for instance, don't talk about the moment when you were shown that you have unearned privilege, but instead speak about a long process ("when I first began learning ...").

In my work, I have consistently found that most such people will be open to acknowledging their privilege once they've been exposed to a few facts about history and contemporary society. At that point, their beliefs usually begin to crumble. Until that time, however, the mere assertion that they are unfairly privileged usually isn't enough.

What white people did in the past will effect their decendants AND ALREADY HAS, they created this whole mess so that their children and grand kids and generations after will be privleged and now that is coming to an end. So yes what someone does in the past will eventually effect their children. If I had children and I was commiting crime, and doing wrong to others, do you not think that one day what i've done to others , will come back to haunt my children???

Ebony Intuition, I think we all agree here that the sins of the past have benefited the descendants of the sinners. And I'm sure we all hope that this system of unearned privilege based on race is now coming to an end.

That doesn't mean, however, that the descendants of the perpetrators will necessarily end up suffering for the sins of the past. Forget turning privilege on its head; I think we'll be very lucky if everyone just ends up equal for once.

As for karma, I'm a Christian and so I don't believe in that Indian religious concept. But I would certainly hope that if you were a criminal, your children would not suffer for what you had done to others. :-)

As for karma, I'm a Christian and so I don't believe in that Indian religious concept. But I would certainly hope that if you were a criminal, your children would not suffer for what you had done to others. :-)Ironic that you say that, considering "punish children for shit their ancestors did" is a running theme in the Bible (even one of its central tenets, via the Garden of Eden myth)...

Hmm. Well, karma refers to reaping the rewards of one's own actions, rather than those of anyone else (including one's ancestors). So I'm not sure how it's ironic that Christianity contains the very different principle that one can be held accountable for the sins of one' ancestors.

I agree with you that it's disturbing that the Old Testament contains such a notion, and emphasizes it over and over again. I like the idea that we are responsible in our actions to our community, including the future community of our descendants, who can be harmed by our misdeeds. I don't believe in looking at our behavior simply as individuals, to be rewarded or punished according to how we've chosen to behave.

We can expect that the sins of the past will affect us today. But we should not strive to hold ourselves, or anyone else, accountable for those sins.

Spot on Renee! Great post! With the auto industry failing in Detroit I get to hear about this all day while I am here. Every newspaper and every mainstream news station reports on the white male with possibilities of losing his job or that he lost his job. Well guess what guys its time to create something new while collaborating with all people so we can create some that will positively influence the Planet. Its really time to create something better for all people, not just white males.

As a white person, I've actually had these moments of fear that "my people" were losing power. And when I sat down and thought about it, what I was afraid of was the loss of the language and culture that I value.

And then I realized: it doesn't matter if I love in a nation where 99% of the people are non-English speaking, or people or color, or whatever else I'm a tizzy about, because MY kids will still be taught OUR culture and language. And I refuse to deny that right to anyone else.

I got stuck on the part where an Obama presidency was going to mean that suddenly white men were going to be terminated from fire departments. Someone explain that part to me? 'Cause, um, the federal government runs all the fire departments?

I have more angry white men for you. Glenn Sacks and his ilk are quite proud of their vendetta (I will not say campaign because they undertook a vendetta) against DART and The Family Place in Dallas. he states in the below quote that they lost several contributors, and he also says he doen't take pleasure in that fact. If this is true then why did he disable comments on that thread before it even opened?

His comment below:

Several of The Family Place's financial contributors withdrew or reduced the financial gifts they planned for the end-of-the-year giving season. I don't say this with pleasure--I would have preferred that The Family Place do the right thing from the beginning rather than lose the funding.

I wrote the paper and plan to blog this and ask that everyone donate 5 or 10 dollars to the Family Place in order to make up for the loss of funding. MRAs gawd I hate em. Lets just keep women dumb and relying completely on the mehnz. Bah bull sh**!!!!!!!!!!

Intense Debate Comments

About Me

I am the mother of two darling little boys that fill my life with hope. They have inspired me to help raise awareness of the issues that plague this little blue planet.
If you are looking for a blog that is all about how wonderful and rosy this world is, turn right because this space will not be for you. I am a committed humanist. I believe in the value of people over commodities. I believe in the human right to food, clothing, shelter, and education. I am pacifist, anti-racist, WOC. My truth may not be your truth, but I intend to speak it nonetheless.
Please feel free to direct questions or commentary womanistmusings@gmail.com